BODEN SHOW TITLE CLASS
St Enda’s too strong for battling Whitehall side
DUBLIN JHC ‘C’ FINAL
BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S………………………………. 3-12
WHITEHALL COLMCILLE………………………………… 0-11
Daire Walsh
A STRONG opening-quarter proved beneficial at O’Toole Park on Sunday morning, as Ballyboden St Enda’s secured the Dublin JHC ‘C’ crown with a commanding ten-point victory over Whitehall Colmcille.
Following a brace of early goals for their opponents, Whitehall (who had claimed the Junior ‘D’ title 12 months ago) did pose some problems for Ballyboden, but with Cian Hiney and centre-forward David Garry in fine form throughout, the tie was ultimately placed beyond their reach after the restart.
Boden captain Garry emphatically split the posts within the opening 60 seconds of the action, and this was swiftly followed by a terrific one-handed strike to the net from inside forward Hiney (brother of former Dublin hurler Stephen).
This was the kind of start that Whitehall were hoping to avoid, but with the reliable Cathal Ryan finding the target either side of a Gavin Duff point, they were beginning to settle into the proceedings. However, after Garry registered his second point on nine minutes, brilliant approach work from Hiney created the opening for Morgan Ryan’s well-taken major.
Subsequent swapped scores between dead-ball specialists Cathal Ryan and Garry meant that Boden were still four points to the good moving into the second-quarter, but during a 15-minute barren spell in front the posts for the Pairc Ui Murchu outfit, Whitehall remained in contention with unanswered scores from Ryan (two), Peter Foy and half-back Andrew Harte.
Boden now realised that Whitehall wouldn’t go down without a fight, but courtesy of three points without reply by corner-forward Brian Cummins, Ronan Dooley (long-range free) and Garry (free), they had developed a 2-7 to 0-7 interval advantage.
This impressive conclusion to the opening period was a significant boost to Boden’s prospects, and within three minutes of the resumption, they had increased their cushion to all of ten points.
The influential Garry once again found the range, and when the ball broke free inside the square from a long-delivery, Hiney fired home for his second goal of the showpiece decider.
Whitehall were now facing an uphill task, and despite adding to their tally with a 37th minute point from Lar Canny, their Firhouse Road counterparts were quick to respond with another successful Garry free.
Quickfire scores by Ryan and midfielder Shane O’Sullivan did provide encouragement to the travelling Whitehall supporters, but after a couple of missed opportunities from Garry, Cummins took over free-taking duties for Boden, and converted comfortably from his opening effort on the left-wing.
He then moved his personal haul up to 0-3 after Whitehall substitute David Ryan had added his name to the scoresheet, while Garry knocked over his second from play on the stroke of 50 minutes.
As it transpired, this was the final score of the game, and even though Ryan was unfortunate to see his goal-bound 54th minute attempt rebounding off the woodwork, Ballyboden St Enda’s were full value for their triumph.
MATCH FILE
SCORERS – BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: C Hiney 2-0, D Garry 0-7 (5f), M Ryan 1-0, B Cummins 0-3 (2f), R Dooley (f), G Duff 0-1 each. WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: C Ryan 0-6 (4f), A Harte, S O’Sullivan, L Canny, P Foy, D Ryan 0-1 each.
BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: D Kelly; A McGrath, D Keating, M McGovern; M Judge, J Long, R Dooley; D Keville, N Farrell; G Duff, D Garry, C Sweeney; M Ryan, C Hiney, B Cummins. SUBS: A Horgan for Sweeney (h-t), F Murray for Dooley (39), C O’Brien for Duff (52), A Carter for Ryan (54), D Kirwin for McGrath (58).
WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: M Troy; A Earley, A Moore, Daire Ryan; A Harte, L Kennedy, N Mulvey; S Curran, S O’Sullivan; C Nolan, A Egan, L Canny; C Ryan, O Mulhall, P Foy. SUBS: David Ryan for Mulhall (17), S Carney for Daire Ryan (33), R George for Nolan (37), J Moran for Harte (51).
MENTORS – BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: G Doyle, D Doyle, M Keville. WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: C Murray, N Hoban, G Carroll, M Connolly.
REFEREE: Sean Stack.
WIDES – BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: 13 (6+7). WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: 15 (8+7).
CONDITIONS: Played on a wet surface, but dry and mild during the game.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: David Garry (Ballyboden St Enda’s).